Yesterday started damp and grey but then flipped to bright and sunny. Almost spring-like even. So off to the beach I went.

Well, not that kind of beach. It does look warm though doesn’t it? Yesterday it was more like this:

below: Looking towards Lake Ontario from Kew Beach Ave. Lots of trees and lots of what looks like grass but is more like mud. Squish, squish as I walked gingerly across the water logged ground, trying to keep my shoes clean.

The goal? To check out this year’s warming stations art installations. Lots of others had the same idea as it turns out. Some kids, some dogs, but that’s okay.

below: Interacting with “Nest” both on the outside…..

below: …. and on the inside. Like all the other warming stations, this one is built around a lifeguard station.

below: The structure is covered with netting-like fabric on the inside and webbing on the outside. It was designed by a team from Ryerson University – Adrian Chiu, Arnel Espanol, and Henry Mai.

below: A sign of the times, a pink pussy hat makes its appearance as “Pussy Hut”

below: “What’s all the fuss about?”

below: A large square made of many pieces of hanging red fabric, anchored at the bottom with plywood. This is “Obstacle” by Kien Pham.

below: “Revolution” by a design team from OCAD university. It consists of 36 vertical red poles with conical metal pieces that twirl. You can look through them or speak through them, or just walk amongst the red poles.

below: Red!

below: “Rising Up” by University of Guelph, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development. The design was inspired by the topography of the Don Valley.

below: Ooops! One has blown over and collapsed already (it was quite windy). Ironically it was called “Wind Station” (designed by Paul van den Berg and Joyce de Grauw). When it was first constructed, it was in the shape of a nuclear cooling tower and you could go inside. The little plastic windmills continue to blow in the wind.

below: Not everyone was looking at the warming stations.

below: This is ‘Make Some Noise’, designed by Alexander Greiss and Jorel Heid. Apparently it is based on based on the intonarumori, an invention of the Italian futurist Luigi Rusollo in 1914. An intonarumori generates noise. Rusollo envisioned noise music replacing traditional forms of music but he was not successful and none of his contraptions survived.

below: This is one side of the box. The red is a handle that can be turned thus generating noise. I don’t think that it was working. Each side had a handle and a black speaker.

The second annual Brain Project is now on display across the city. These are only a small sample of the brain sculptures that form the exhibit. In total there are 100 brains in about 20 locations around the city. There is a map on the Brain Project website if you are interested in visiting some of them.

below: One of the locations where you can see some of the brain sculptures is Nathan Phillips Square.

Descriptions of all the brains on display around the city, as well as notes on the artists responsible, can be found online. You can vote online for your favorite brain.

below: Circles of beads and sequins – circles representing wholeness and totality come together to form a complex mosaic like the brain itself. “Unleash Your Mind” is by Kara Ross.

below: Sitting on top of a blue and teal brain is a blue jay in a nest – a sculpture by Ted Hamer that is called “Thinkubator”. Here the brain is shown as an idea incubator where the bird symbolizes the idea.

below: “Vitale” by Molly Gambardella is dedicated to the artist’s grandmother who died of Alzheimers in 2016. Vitale was her maiden name.

below: Three of the brains on display at the Distillery District. In front is “Red Head” by Anitra Hamilton who glued pieces of chicken eggshells to the surface of the brain. Red acrylic paint highlights the spaces between the eggshells. In the middle is Cindy Scaife’s “Food for Thought”. Broccoli, avocado, apple and walnut, all healthy foods, play in the park.

below: Also at the Distillery District is a brain by Laura Bundesen, “Not Forgotten” is a collage of fabric embellished with lace and embroidery and beads. It is in memory of her stepmother who suffered from dementia.

Part of the goal of the project is raise awareness of diseases like Alzheimers that affect the brain. Another goal was to raise money – the sculptures are sponsored by various people and corporations (such as Telus). As well, most of the brains from last year’s exhibit have been sold. Funds raised through this project are donated to Baycrest Health Services.

below: Keight MacLean’s “Loss” illustrates the idea of memory and memory loss using a portrait of a person, a loved one. Paint as the memory loss, obscures the picture.

This blog post is about a flock of birdos, meaning that I found a lot of alley garages decorated with paintings by street artist birdo. Or maybe ‘a menagerie of birdos’ would be a more accurate description as most of the pictures were of different animals such as elephant, cat, dog, coyote, and mouse along with a number of different birds.

These photographs were are all taken in alleys behind the south part of Dovercourt Road (between Queen and Sudbury streets). The majority of the paintings that I saw were result of birdo’s work but there were examples of and I have included them in this post too.

below: Two birdo birds with eggs, with a slice of mushroom and pepperoni pizza by Shalak.